A robber was shot dead and two others arrested after attempting to rob
a house in Fountainbleau, northern Johannesburg this morning.

Cops were hunting for two others who managed to escape. The robbers
struck at the family's home at about 6.15am, sneaking in through an open
kitchen door. Two gunmen confronted the father, who was brushing his teeth
and getting ready for work. His wife was at the gym while the domestic
worker was helping his two boys - aged two and five - getting ready for
school.

In that instant, while the robbers were pointing a gun at him, the
father "summed up the situation" and dashed through the passage and into the
bedroom. He got his pistol - which he had not used or carried in more than a
decade - and ran around to the back of the house.

"I was fortunate I could respond. They didn't expect it and it put
them on the back foot," he explained, requesting that his name and address
be withheld.

The robbers had got their hands on an old Nokia cellphone and were
trying to escape. But the domestic worker had locked the kitchen door -
while escaping - and the gang was trapped inside.

Leaning around the front corner of the house, the father began firing.
The robbers fired back, as they kicked the front entrance door in a
desperate bid to get out.

"I don't know how many shots I fired. Fifteen? I emptied the whole
clip and ran out of ammunition and went back to the safe for more. I came
back to find they had gone."

Police spokesman Inspector Bokkie Keulder explained that the robbers
pointed guns at the officers as they drove, but were unable to shoot because
of the bends in the small residential streets.

The cars reached nearby Robindale and the Corsa suddenly lost control.
It swerved, crashed into a wall that was being built and rolled onto its
side.

"Two guys jumped out and started shooting. The police returned fire,"
Keulder said.

One of the robbers was wounded, jumped over the construction site and
collapsed inside a ditch. He died on the scene.

The second - the driver - was arrested while the third lay trapped
inside the car at the corner of Valley and Yvette streets. An ambulance was
called and the robber was pulled out of the car. He was taken to hospital
under police guard.

This breaking news flash was supplied exclusively to iol.co.za by the
news desk at our sister title, The Star.